This research proposes a accomplish a three year longitudinal study of bereavement as it is experienced by elderly survivors (aged 55 years and older). The overall objective of the study is to identify the relative role of survivor characteristics, death event characteristics, supportive networks, and interventions in mediating the intensity and duration of negative consequences associated with bereavement in elderly survivors. The study proposes to sample approximately 400 bereaved elderly stratified by sex, age range, type of death event initiating bereavement (sudden versus expected), and type of community setting (ranging from institutional to independent living). The study will examine changes in emotional and behavioral functioning occurring over a sixteen month period following the death event as well as the structure and changes in supportive networks impacting on the bereaved survivor during this period. These changes will be assessed against levels characterized at (a) a point prior to the death event (or expectation of it), and (b) a point closely following the death event. Initial analyses will examine the efficacy of stage models and critical parameter models of bereavement in accounting for different patterns of survivor coping and negative consequences observed in the data. These results are expected to form the basis for subsequent development of an integrative model of bereavement which will include the role of supportive networks in addition to survivor and death event characteristics as factors influencing the intensity and duration of bereavement consequences in elderly survivors. In the course of the above analyses, the study is expected to provide significant new information relevant to the dynamics and effects of anticipatory grief, supportive networks, and interventions as these operate to influence the course of bereavement.